Pastors Week workshops

2014 workshops:

Workshops will be offered Wednesday afternoon during Pastors Week. When you register, please indicate which workshop you are most likely to attend.

We See...Who? Talking about Jesus in Congregation and Community

Presenter: Jamie Pitts, AMBS

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In this workshop, pastors are invited to share and discuss how they answer the question,
"Who is Jesus?" in their congregations and wider communities. Jamie Pitts will lead the
discussion by outlining some of the major answers from church history, including answers
from ecumenical, liberation, and Anabaptist sources. The aim of the workshop is to
encourage pastors to continue on the journey of becoming articulate about who they see
Jesus to be in their contexts.

The Easter Room

Presenter: Allan Rudy-Froese, AMBS

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Easter morning is a high point of the year, yet those who have preached many Easter
sermons year after year wonder if we have said it all. Come join with others in an interactive
room on the resurrection story. Bring an Easter sermon to share, and be ready to share your
insights on John 20:1-18.

Reading the Bible with Jesus—Cultivating Hospitality to the Text, to the
Community, and to the Spirit’s Transformation

Presenter: Rachel Miller Jacobs, AMBS

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What are some specific practices, actions, and strategies for leaders in helping themselves
and others read the Bible with Jesus? This workshop will offer several practical suggestions,
some hands-on experimentation, and plenty of time for idea sharing.

Exercises in Cultural Hermeneutics

Presenter: Andy Brubacher Kaethler, AMBS

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A number of AMBS students will share their fascinating projects from an AMBS class on
"reading" of cultural phenomena using biblical, theological and philosophical tools of inquiry.

Seeing Jesus in John’s Gospel

Presenter: Willard Swartley, Professor Emeritus of New Testament

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John’s Gospel uses four (perhaps five) different words of seeing/sight, with distinctive emphasis in many of these occurrences. The workshop will introduce several crucial texts where these different verbs for seeing Jesus are significant. This is related to John’s Christology and Jesus’ relation to God, on the one hand, and to seeing that leads to believing, on the other hand. The difference in verbs helps explain why Jesus did not entrust himself to those who believed, seeing his miracles (3:22). John 1:14, 18; chap. 9; 20:8 and 29 are crucial. To see Jesus is to see God (true or false?).